


Compounded

by Calesvol



Category: Naruto
Genre: Bonding, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Developing Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21571714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calesvol/pseuds/Calesvol
Summary: After the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Sasuke was used to being alone, spending his lonely time on the dock. Every so often, a blond boy would pass him on the way home. Usually, they never said much to each other.But one time, they did.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Kudos: 26





	Compounded

Warning(s): G, none

* * *

Home.

Was it really? Konoha was where he lived, but home...it was a small apartment in a centralized part of the village, in dormitories where some other shinobi lived. The vicinity was supposed to be reserved for fully fledged shinobi, but the Third had allowed it. He had made that promise to Minato, after all.

The routine was often the same when he returned home; usually, it wasn’t much of a routine at all. After a full day at the Academy, Naruto usually spent some lonely time at the local playground, sometimes playing the odd prank on days that weren’t just his days off, or taking longer routes. Sometimes, it helped him forget. He could glance at families with their children and insert himself in a child’s folly of imagining himself as part of one. That their parents and siblings were his, too. But, at some point, the father would cheerfully call his children back and tell them it was time to return home. Then, the illusion shattered.

Along the river that was a wide mirror that almost perfectly reflected the setting sun and vibrantly-hued sky, the warmth of a beginning summer rendering the evenings perfect to stroll through, he felt like he didn’t have to return to his same tiny apartment just yet.

There was a boy. Jet-black hair and eyes nearly the same color, possessing the only emblem of a once prodigious and revered clan on the back of his high-collar shirt, his back always facing away as he sat on the dock jutting modestly into the river. Sometimes his sandals were undone and set aside to enjoy the gentle current and the water’s mild temperature.

Naruto distantly wondered if he did that to forget his loneliness for a second, to feel something outside of himself.

Like he had on a few other occasions, Sasuke caught him staring. It was a gentle notice at first, until the boy bristled, frowned, and hurriedly turned away. Just hours ago, they had sparred in the schoolyard just like they were supposed to. When Sasuke had incapacitated the blond flat on his back, their eyes had met. Naruto had never seen a gaze like that before in someone else; he’d seen it countless times in his own reflection, but almost never in someone else. Accusing, cornered. Unable to trust but desperately wanting to.

Sasuke had lurched away before he could stare for too long, stalking away like he often did. A storm brewing that never really abated, one that felt like it was overlooked or ignored completely.

The hill wasn’t a long jump as Naruto did adroitly, landing squarely on the gravel path running alongside the riverside. Hands still on his lap, Sasuke craned around and regarded Naruto with an odd look, bristling and guarded despite how something in him yielded. Intensely, terribly, secretly curious.

“Why do you sit on the riverbank alone all the time? There’s nothing interesting to look at,” came Naruto’s blunt icebreaker, looking out on the water and not at the other boy. “I mean, don’t you get bored?” Face pulled into a sour expression, his gaze lay upon the mirror-smooth river with disinterest.

“Why do you care? Don’t you have to go home or something?” Sasuke replied back flatly, not even obliging him with a look.

Normally, he probably would have stormed off like Sasuke did so many times before. Huffed and abandoning the conversation instead of letting himself be humiliated any further. Yet… something stopped him. The blond grew uncharacteristically quiet as his sourness melted away into a grimness Sasuke caught up on, barely inclining his head towards Naruto. He knew that feeling. The slow, tar-like realization of not having a home to return to. Not a real home with family, at least.

“What’s yours like?”

Sasuke started at the question, shoulders tensing as part of him deliberated inventing some excuse to dismiss himself or Naruto. To walk out what felt like a trap.

Naruto, the orphan. Sasuke, the orphaned.

His shoulders sagged, relenting quietly, “… It’s in the corner of the village. The Uchiha compound.” It was there, a reluctant fluttering. He didn’t have any reason to divulge more to this loser, this boy who had made a rival out of him when it was unrequited. Even if the blond had a similar look in his eyes he remembered.

The look in his eyes. The lonely swing he sat at that wasn’t much different than the dock Sasuke did, too.

“Can I see it?” Naruto said after a beat, indelicate, obtuse. But, there wasn’t some dense, childish curiosity that Sasuke expected. The younger boy’s features were held somberly, waiting, but not too expectant.

“Why?” Only why, the jet-haired boy asked. Scrutinizing Naruto intently, ready to leave at a moment’s notice. In case it would be invitation for mockery.

“You lost your home, right? Iruka-sensei told me this awhile ago, that the Uzumaki did, too. It was a long time ago, but Uzushiogakure was destroyed because people were afraid of the Uzumaki clan. We were scattered, most of ‘em killed, and stuff.” Naruto’s face became screwed up in a grimace when he realized how vulnerable he was being with Sasuke of all people, but… the boy had lost his home, too. There wasn’t really anything left of it. Gritting his teeth and huffing, he amended, “Not that it’s important to you, or anything!”

Sasuke grew quiet at the revelation. He had remembered that in a history lesson, but hadn’t really been paying attention. Or rather, it was just a fact. It hadn’t really connected to Naruto until now.

“Do you want to see it, or not?” Sasuke asked as he began pulling his sandals back on, waterproof enough that his damp feet wouldn’t really bother him. Naruto was aghast, shocked that Sasuke had seriously taken him up on it. The older boy stood, pocketing his hands, beginning to walk away whether Naruto was coming or not.

“Hey— Wait up!”

* * *

He wouldn’t call the walk home really idyllic, as both boys were tensely quiet, Naruto more so because of disbelief that he would’ve gotten this far. More than once did Sasuke have to cut him a glare to keep the younger boy from staring, Naruto wrenching his away every time. Maybe because he couldn’t believe that the boy he had such a fierce contention with was willing to show him his home when the rest of the villagers pretended like it didn’t exist. That the emblem of Konoha’s shame was just a thing that they could walk past behind high walls and police tape that warned against trespassing.

People gossiped about them both, Sasuke noticed. He had learned to push it from his mind, but it was odd walking alongside him who was subjected to it just as much. Naruto ignored it, too. As if it were inconsequential as the rain falling on an overcast day.

He wondered when Naruto had learned to do that.

When they finally passed through the enormous entrance gate marking the beginning of the Uchiha compound, Naruto’s steps slowed as he took in the hamlet, a mournful kind of austerity and loneliness making him shiver. “How does anyone walk in here now?” he murmured to himself, forgetting Sasuke walked just a bit ahead of him.

The older boy narrowed his eyes, but said nothing about it. “You’ve seen it. Aren’t you going to leave?”

“Can I see your house?”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, lips pulling into a frown. “Haven’t you seen enough?” he bit back, a growl in his voice. It was almost always the same thing. Though no one was allowed to see the Uchiha compound, he only allowed because he was a sole survivor, he knew the reason was always the same: those that didn’t openly revile him just pitied him, even though the number of people who did he could count on one hand.

“Huh? Hey, hang on a second! You’re supposed to be like a host, aren’t you? I mean, I just want to see your house! I’m not gonna wreck anything, promise!” Naruto railed as he gesticulated wildly, Sasuke only sighing.

“If I do, will you shut-up?” he retorted sourly.

“Uh, yeah!” Naruto replied uncertainly. More towards the shutting up bit, but still…

Wordlessly did Sasuke turn on his heel and began walking again, Naruto taking it as a silent beckon to follow.

It wasn’t much longer before they came to Sasuke’s house, the largest estate in the village. Naruto couldn’t help but stop in awe of it, marveling at the size. It was bigger than the entire building he lived in with the others! While the blond gaped, Sasuke fished in his short pockets for a key and unlatched the front iron gate, swinging open creakily while he waited expectantly for Naruto to follow.

Though the sunny smile on his face indicated he wanted to burst out in awe of Sasuke’s house, he stopped himself when the older boy proceeded wordlessly through, not even waiting for Naruto who dashed inside.

“So, uh—aren’t you going to show me around?” he broached once they were inside, crossing his arms behind his neck that he often did when at ease, rare considering the company he was keeping.

“No.”

At that, Naruto’s languidness was comically rattled. “No?! Aw, come on!”

Sasuke fixed him with a cutting glare, flinty and brokering no further argument. It certainly shut him up, at least.

After pulling off their sandals at the entrance pit, advancing on the floor—Naruto without the slippers Sasuke now wore—did the blond continue hovering behind Sasuke, surprised that the older boy didn’t snap at him for remaining so close by. But… maybe he could see why. Though it was a beautiful, sprawling estate, it was quiet and lonely. Naruto shivered at the thought, wondering how Sasuke could remain in such a bone-chillingly haunted place considering what had happened here.

Oh. Was that why Sasuke had let him come? Because there was no one else?

“Are you done gaping like an idiot?” Sasuke’s abrasive voice snapped him from his rapture, Naruto scowling. On second thought…

“I’m not an idiot!” About to launch into a tirade, Naruto stopped suddenly when he glanced outside, just noticing how dark it was getting. “Aw, no! The patrols are gonna kill me if I go back now! What am I gonna do?”

“Stop being an idiot and stay here for the night!”

“Huh?” Naruto took pause, his gaze sliding towards Sasuke with a surprised expression on his face. “Hang on, you want me to stay here?”

At that, Sasuke visibly balked. Stumbling over the right words to say, he spat out, “Should I kick you out instead so you can get in trouble?” There was a slight pink dusting on his cheeks, mortified that he had to be cornered like this.

“No! I—“ Naruto fumbled, tripping over his own words before he sobered, looking defeated. “Thanks… I guess.”

Sasuke sighed again, turning away to advance towards his room. “Stop being so obnoxious, or else I’ll make you sleep outside.”

“Are you saying I’m a dog?!”

“Shut up, loser!”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: As a disclaimer of sorts, I'm a huge SNS shipper, so feel free to interpret this as shippy! But seeing as it's been years since I've written any Naruto fanfic, this drabble is a bit of a warm-up. I certainly intend on writing more in the future, though.


End file.
